TSIPPI FLEISCHER: “ORATORIO 1492-1992” – TO MARK
THE FIFTH CENTENNIAL OF THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN
The very first note
already conveys a feeling of excitement and of things happening in
the music itself, even without relating to the nationalistic aspect.
The oratorio is sung in Hebrew, Spanish and Arabic, and includes texts
by Ibn Gabirol, Shmuel Hanagid, Ben Lavrat, and other poets of Spain’s
Golden Era.
The work was awarded the prize of the Public Council for Arts and
Culture for excellence of performance. The music sounds both authentic
and modern. Plucked instruments combine well with the orchestra, and
the choir is outstanding. A more extended discussion of the work is
to be found in “GITIT” No. 105. The disc is already available
in the stores, and new composers may also be encountered through it
– Tanner, Van de Vate, and Sherwood Shaffer.

FROM QUITE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
1492, the year of America’s
“discovery” was, and is, no date for celebration, not
only for the indigenous people of America: in Spain, Queen Isabella
began the great expulsion of the Jewish population. Fleischer’s
oratorio for symphony orchestra, chorus, guitars and mandolin ensemble
describes half a millennium of Jewish history. Memories of the Judeo-Spanish
musical tradition, of which only traces have remained, open this contemplative
work; the medieval texts are heard in Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew.
In her endeavor to portray this sorrowful Jewish history – which
for many has taken a hopeful turn with the resettlement of Israel
– the composer has created a convincing testimony.